Erste Group Bank AG: Change of significant voting right thresholds

Vienna (pta029/14.10.2015/18:45 UTC+2) Announcement pursuant to sec. 93 Austrian Stock Exchange Act in connection with sec. 91 art. 1 Austrian Stock Exchange Act -
Change of significant voting right thresholds

Erste Group Bank AG informs the public pursuant to sec. 93 Austrian Stock Exchange Act ("BörseG") in connection with sec. 91 art. 1 Austrian Stock Exchange Act that DIE ERSTE österreichische Spar-Casse Privatstiftung ("Erste Foundation"), Friedrichstraße 10, 1010 Vienna, Austria, was informed on 12 October 2015 that its voting rights fell below the threshold of 30%. Erste Stiftung now controls 127,350,997 shares and 29.63% of the voting rights in Erste Group.

In detail, Erste Stiftung controls voting rights in Erste Group as follows:

a. 44,234,712 shares, i.e. 10.29% of the share capital, are held by Erste Stiftung directly;
b. 23,094,735 shares, i.e. 5.37% of the share capital, are controlled by Erste Stiftung through Sparkassen Beteiligungs GmbH & Co KG. The Erste Group shares held by Sparkassen Beteiligungs GmbH & Co KG are attributable to Erste Stiftung pursuant to sec 92 (4) BörseG;
c. 4,152,418 shares, i.e. 0.97% of the share capital, of which 1,388,725 shares (0.32% of the share capital) have no voting rights due to their classification as treasury shares, are controlled by Erste Stiftung under share pooling agreements with Austrian savings banks, foundations of savings bank and share management entities and are attributable to Erste Stiftung pursuant to sec. 92 (1) and (7) BörseG.
d. 13,234,884 shares, i.e. 3.08% of the share capital, are controlled by Erste Stiftung under a share pooling agreement with Wiener Städtische Wechselseitiger Versicherungsverein - Vermögensverwaltung - Vienna Insurance Group and are attributable to Erste Stiftung pursuant to sec. 92 (1) and (7) BörseG; and
e. 42,634,248 shares, i.e. 9.92% of the share capital, are controlled by Erste Stiftung under a share pooling agreement with Caixabank S.A. (formerly CriteriaCaixaCorp SA) and are attributable to Erste Stiftung pursuant to sec. 92 (1) and (7) BörseG.

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Emitter:	Erste Group Bank AG Milchgasse 1 1010 Wien Austria
Contact Person:	Thomas Sommerauer/ Simone Pilz
Phone:	+ 43 (0)5 0100 - 17741
E-Mail:	investor.relations@erstegroup.com
Website:	www.erstegroup.com
ISIN(s):	AT0000652011 (Share)
Stock Exchange(s):	Vienna Stock Exchange (Official Trade)